We may resume suspended strike anytime from now, ASUU threatens

By Ajuma Edwina Ameh

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) has threatened to resume its suspended strike anytime, accusing the Federal Government of reneging on its promise to implement the Memorandum of Action (MOA) signed by both parties in December 2020.

The body also accused the government of trying to cripple the union by withholding check-off dues of members for over one year.

The Lagos Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Dr Adelaja Odukoya, told newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday that the withheld dues run into millions of naira.

He said the act was perpetrated by the government through the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) for federal employees.

According to Odukoya, who was in the company of union leaders from various universities in the zone, the union has given the government “a rope long enough to hang itself on the matter.”

He said: “We called off our strike last December and signed an MOA and out of the nine items on the list for implementation, only two have been done. The first is the setting up of Visitation. Panels to universities.

“Can you imagine that we as union are the ones asking the government to set up panels to know what is happening in their universities?

“Setting up of panels ought to be done every five years.

“The second item is the promotion arrears and that has not been done completely. A number of our members in some universities are yet to benefit.

“Can one say scoring two out of nine marks is enviable? The Revitalisation Fund that they said had been deposited at the Central Bank of Nigeria since January this year is still crawling and has not got to the accounts of beneficiaries.”